An ecology built on talent has been displaced by one built on fear.

Drawing on testimony from 481 artists and arts professionals, our 2025 study exposed a growing climate of fear, censorship, and ideological conformity inside UK arts institutions — and a troubling set of double standards between what the sector says it values and how it behaves in practice.

The chilling effect disproportionately silences emerging and marginal voices. Many of the artists we heard from no longer feel able to speak openly without risking career damage, exclusion or harassment. Measured against the 2020 Arts Professional baseline, the position has demonstrably worsened.

Our 2026 study returns to the question with a wider lens. Drawing on 194 sector workers, 45 in-depth interviews, and a senior leaders' roundtable, we set out how boycott pressure operates in practice — and what is lost when fear replaces process.

The same logic turns up wherever institutions fold under pressure: anticipatory compliance, pressure that originates inside the organisation rather than outside it, safeguarding language pressed into service for political objections, and a silent boycott in which opportunities simply stop arriving. Four mechanisms; one shape; consistent enough to be named as a system.